Five People Slashed on the Upper West Side, Including 2-Year-Old

James Fayette, a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, seen with his wife Jennifer Ringer, a current principal dancer, in 2005. On Tuesday Mr. Fayette and his two-year-old son were slashed in an alleged attack in Riverside Park on Tuesday. Credit: Patrick McMullan

By Pervaiz Shallwani, Sarah Armaghan and Jennifer Maloney

UPDATED | A 43-year-old Texas man who appeared to be emotionally disturbed was arrested on Tuesday for allegedly slashing five people, including a two-year-old boy and a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, using a pair of scissors in Riverside Park, law-enforcement officials said.

Keith Bedford for The Wall Street Journal

A police officers stands guard near the scene of Tuesday’s attack on the Upper West Side.

The series of attacks began around 7:50 a.m. along a bike path in the the park and lasted nine minutes, New York Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly said. The victims, two women aged 36 and 32, two men aged 36 and 35, and the child were all taken to local hospitals, a law-enforcement official said.

Police apprehended Julius Graham, 43 years old, after a man who was walking his dog intervened and held him until police arrived, Mr. Kelly said. He was brought to to psychiatric ward at Bellevue Hospital for evaluation and charges are pending, Mr. Kelly said.

Investigators recovered two halves of a 4-to-6-inch pair of scissors at the scene, police said.
It began when Mr. Graham allegedly stabbed a 36-year-old woman who was jogging near West 64th Street in the back, Mr. Kelly said. She was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital and was listed in critical condition for injuries that included a dislocated shoulder, Mr. Kelly said. She is undergoing surgery, he added.

Mr. Graham allegedly continued south along the path to West 63rd Street, where he stabbed a 36-year-old man who was walking his dog. “According to the man, he thought he was punched in the stomach by this individual. In fact, he was stabbed in the stomach,” Mr. Kelly said.

And at West 60th Street, Mr. Graham allegedly stabbed 35-year-old James Fayette, a former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, who was pushing his 2-year-old son, Luke, in a stroller, said Mr. Kelly and Alan Gordon, national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists.

Mr. Fayette– who is married to Jennifer Ringer, a current principal dancer with the ballet–suffered a slash wound to the chest and Luke suffered a slash wound to his arm, Mr. Kelly and Mr. Gordon said. “The man is attempting to protect his son and his son is slashed on the arm,” Mr. Kelly said.

Mr. Gordon, who visited Mr. Fayette at Roosevelt Hospital, said it appeared that the dancer was hit twice in the chest. “He tried to subdue the guy, which he managed to do,” Mr. Gordon said. ”Luke was slashed on the left arm, but now is stitched up and seems fine.”

“James is in a lot of pain,” Mr. Gordon said. “He may or may not need surgery. He’s going to be in hospital for a while. He’s out of it but he’ll be okay.” Mr. Lafayette will remain in the intensive care unit at least overnight, Mr. Gordon said.

The remaining victims were transported to Roosevelt Hospital with injuries that were not considered serious, Mr. Kelly said. Thier names were not released.

A bystander, who lives nearby, saw the melee and intervened, Mr. Kelly said.

Shurita Fields, 51, a city sanitation worker from the Bronx, was working Tuesday morning during the incident. She was starting her shift at a depot on West 59th Street, when two men came running in saying someone had been stabbed. She said she yelled for her coworkers to dial 911.

“I ran out and saw a lady screaming. She was holding a coat over her neck. She told me she was stabbed,” Ms. Fields said. “She was hysterical. She just kept crying.”

The injured woman, kept asking about the child she had seen the man attack. ”I just told her to calm down, that someone’s coming and don’t worry, it’ll be okay,” Ms. Fields said.

Ms. Fields said her supervisor located the suspect and stood over him until police arrived. ”He looked like he was unconscious,” Ms. Fields said of the suspect. “My supervisor just ran and sprung into action.”

Mr. Graham allegedly stayed at a shelter in the Bronx sometime last week, but it was unclear where he was currently living, Mr. Kelly said. The NYPD responds to more than 90,000 calls for emotionally disturbed people every year Mr. Kelly said.

“It’s very difficult,” Mr. Kelly said. “We have a significant population out there that have mental health disorders. The vast majority of those people are given prescription medication and if in fact that medication is not taken – and I don’t have any particular knowledge about this incident – but if that medication is not taken, then there are obviously problems for us.

“It’s a major obligation and challenge of the department, but that’s the situation we find ourselves in,” Mr. Kelly said. “There’s no easy answers.”

The attack shook the neighborhood and people who use the park every day to exercise and commute.

“What a shame,” said SoHo resident Ellen Jaffe, who routinely bikes through the park. ”I ride here often and it’s normally safe. I hadn’t been nervous before, not at all, but this is horrifying. It’s so well populated at that time so it’s surprising.”

Ms. Jaffe said she thinks not much more can be done in terms of safety for pedestrians or bicyclists during the day, but she did say that that northern parts of the path could use a more of a police presence.

“You have to have your eyes open just for the traffic but you seldom think to keep them open for this,” Ms. Jaffe said. “But we all just have be to vigilant.”

Market researcher Mariana Maluf, 32, who lives on West 63rd Street and West End Avenue, walks through the park every day with her newborn son, Otto.

“At first I thought they were recording ‘Law and Order.’ You never see any of this here, all the cops, all the cameras. You usually hear about that stuff happening further uptown. This is a very safe neighborhood. There’s lots of pets, lots of babies that are on this path all the time,” she said.

“I pay a fortune for rent, I pay a fortune for taxes then you hear about a stabbing right here?” Ms. Maluf said. “It’s unbelievable.”